'Stealth' antenna made of gas

Good stuff here...nice to know there are one or two Amateurs who actually keep a hand in current technology

Fred von Gortler
Test Officer
US Army Operational Test Command (USAOTC)
Command, Control, Communications, and Computers Test Directorate (C4TD)

Some of you are too far removed from your military past, or you never had one.

Many of you have very narrow notions about what "Stealth" is.

Some of you fail to just think through a problem....

Example; ...A gent above cannot see how a bright plasma light source could be stealthy....

Hummmm.... Perhaps inside an opaque glass envelope?  They are talking about GHz antennas, so form factor is extremely small....

I am NOT defending Plasma antenna technology or even suggesting it is a viable solution for a specific need, problem, or desired and required capability.

There are Needed communications equipment with desired and required capabilities where the "Operational Profile" might be an agent of our government behind enemy lines who must pass through many levels of scanning and detection equipment.  Metal resonant antennas are easy to detect even if inactive and disconnected from the exciter.

Many of you are not aware of the current threats, or the capabilities of the enemy.  If you are not up to speed on the current detection techniques, capabilities and limitations, then you have no frame of reference to adequately define what "stealth" is.  

I bet less then 10% of the current Armature radio ops even have any clue about current military communications capabilities and methods.

Google open source info from the Program Managers web pages of:

WIN-T   Warfighter Information Network-Tactical
NECC     Net-Enabled Command Capability
CPOF     Command Post of the Future
FBCB2    Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below

These are just the normal stuff we test, and not really that high tech or innovative. I cannot point you to the cool stuff that Navy Seals, Marine SOG, AF and Army SOF are using and developing.

The days of PRC25s and AN/VRC46s are long gone

Stealth, Jam Proof, Self Healing, and Joint Interoperability are top of the list capabilities requirements for current communications acquisition needs.

The Plasma antenna is but one of hundreds of ideas being looked into to satisfy the NEEDS.

At any given time USAOTC is testing several communications ideas. The Air Force, Marines, Navy, and Missile Command all have similar Developmental and Operational Testing organizations

Perhaps if more Amateurs got up to speed on the current state of the art, we could effectively update our rhetoric and not sound so silly and irrelevant in public.

As much as I like to think I know a lot about this stuff, the folks out at the Electronics Proving Grounds, Ft Huachuca AZ are infinitely more knowledgeable. I depend on their subject matter experts a lot when my team and I design tests for these things.